Dismantling the plumbers paradise

Abstract

This thesis identifies a problem; the way New Zealand baches are built. This problem is generational. Families change and when more space is needed, we gain space by dividing and adding walls. We build sequentially through space. This is how our residential architecture was established; divvy up space to create more space. This has its limits and at a certain point becomes problematic, which in turn creates a further problem : when space is not needed anymore, what happens to it? This thesis explores the problem of generational change in New Zealand, through my family bach as a study. Termed "The Plumbers Paradise" for its six bathrooms, the building has grown generationally over the past 38 years. By understanding and exploring every inch of this building and graphing change against the key idea of generational change versus maintenance, pre-emptive versus reactive, functional versus non-functional and spatial versus planar. These categories help show how the building is coping with generational change and show opportunities to dismantle the way we consider space and use walls in our generational home. This thesis shows that if we dismantle the building through its wall framing, we can control how a building changes through generations. This might be to house more or fewer people and different requirements for, more or less public and private space. Adding a system to replace the standard frame, allows the user to manipulate space rather than divide it. This frame uses the dismantled wall as infills to divide and order the space to the demands of each family generation - vertically, horizontally, outwards and inwards. The Dismantled Plumber's Paradise is now prepared for generational change.